Coalescent
Transparent art and community sharing space for Knoxville, TN
First Year Graduate Architecture Studio | Taught by Kevin Stevens | Spring 2022
Morningside was a low income area of Knoxville, TN in the 1940’s, with a large African-American population.
Stores were run out of homes, goods sold on the street corners, and the local theater was a big attraction, until the neighborhood was claimed by the Urban Renewal initiative of the US Government in the 1950s.
Urban Renewal committees redlined the entire neighborhood, citing poor and unhealthy living conditions but actually targeting the area because of its racial makeup.
Morningside was ultimately razed to make way for today’s Knoxville Civic Center… the site of this reclamatory architectural concept.
courtyard entrance, underground throughway below
dimension and early concept
concrete, corroded steel, glass - materiality of abandonment
Coalescent centers on latent energies of abandonment and community struggle to invigorate conversations on change.
Transparent gallery spaces transition to shaded gathering areas, creating a contemplative space for reflection.
facing west, the materiality is framed against the city
underground throughway allows for varied site access
looking east, steel and concrete shade transparent galleries
erupted foundations- three Knoxville Urban Renewal projects
site axonometric north
site axonometric south
throughway - conceptual
space plan
early site conceptuals
street-facing view
color blocked materials
conceptual perspective